How to build a residential area in a green landscape and keep its openness?
-five buildings that create an open star
-a series of passages who give access to the stars heart
-horseshoe shaped buildings that provide collective gardens for housing groups
-a smooth gradient between build, form and green landscape created by the buildings’ shape
-a social attractive living environment via kindergarten, family houses and 55+ apartmentsThis project is set in the beautiful green area in Laröd, Sweden.

The project consists of 76 dwellings that are based around a series of horseshoe- shaped volumes.The site consists of a horse haddocks in the east and a park in the west. The new development consists of several residential typologies and a Kindergarten (age 1-5 years).The apartments that are located towards the inner courtyard are for seniors, from the age of 55+. While the outer “finger” of the building volume is private houses for families. The whole plan with the individual stakeholders is now underdevelopment and has planed building start in 2011.The horseshoe-shape is used as an inspiration for the form of the building volumes, where the long side of the horseshoe-shape formation is sloping towards the landscape. The buildings are set in a continuous band of green areas. Our proposal is a part of the green structure plan.

The placement of the five buildings volumes creates a common gathering space in the middle and a couple of different dynamic spaces in- between the building volumes that are connected with the surrounding landscape. We want to create an interconnected environment where the residents’ private domain lies within the intimate collective areas enclosed by the horseshoe-shaped blocks. The landscape continues through the building blocks, which are orientated away from each other, and define various types of private and public spaces depending on the users and typologies. The inner courtyard is for the senior citizens, where 55+ apartments are allocated.The openings of the horseshoe-shaped volumes extend into the surrounding landscape and serves as collective garden for the houses that are connected to the park. The fronts of the houses are on the outside of the horseshoes, facing the entrance of the adjacent block with a street-like passage in between. The buildings increase in size towards the curve so it looks as through there’s a hill rising up from the landscape. The parking garage is covered by a green roof and will further underline this idea. The garage can be accessed from the apartments and houses and serve as the main parking facility.The mixed use of the development creates a unique combination of families, kids and senior citizens. The social ecology of the project is that the lose proximity of the kindergarten would attract families and the senior citizens public facilities would be jointly use by the kindergarten. The social sustainability of the project lies in the mixed of use and how this would overlap and create a riche environment for the elderly as well as the kids and families.Our proposal is to make the buildings out of wood, with a wood frame. Wood is our most sustainable raw material. As a building material, its credentials are unparalleled. Wood results in far less carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere than competing building products.